Hey Everyone! 
At yesterday's SCRAPPING HACKS chat, I promised everyone I'd do my best to compile a written list/record of all of the fantastic ideas and tips/tricks that everyone was sharing during the chat. It proved to be a really giant undertaking (the chat lasted about 1-1/2 hours and was BUSYBUSYBUSY! ...lots of great info!). After going through the chat transcript late last night, however, I think the following list is about as comprehensive a snapshot as we're going to be able to provide without this ending up being a novel-length post! LOL
And for those who have asked... the CHALLENGE related to this week's BONFIRE GATHERING (the SCRAPPING HACKS chat)... is to choose at least one of the following tips/tricks that were shared during the event, and apply them to a brand-new project that you'll post in the challenge gallery here at TDP, and then link up in this thread, below. Your choice will need to be something that can actually be applied to a scrapping project/page (i.e. a few of the tips/tricks related to backing up data, or photos, etc... and those obviously can't be directly "used" on a page/project, so please choose one of the tips/tricks that we can "see" on your page once you post it).
Please list what SCRAPPING HACK you've used... and leave your image in the thread, below. THANK YOU!
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SCRAPPING HACKS DISCUSSED IN THE WEEK #2 BONFIRE GATHERING...
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At yesterday's SCRAPPING HACKS chat, I promised everyone I'd do my best to compile a written list/record of all of the fantastic ideas and tips/tricks that everyone was sharing during the chat. It proved to be a really giant undertaking (the chat lasted about 1-1/2 hours and was BUSYBUSYBUSY! ...lots of great info!). After going through the chat transcript late last night, however, I think the following list is about as comprehensive a snapshot as we're going to be able to provide without this ending up being a novel-length post! LOL
And for those who have asked... the CHALLENGE related to this week's BONFIRE GATHERING (the SCRAPPING HACKS chat)... is to choose at least one of the following tips/tricks that were shared during the event, and apply them to a brand-new project that you'll post in the challenge gallery here at TDP, and then link up in this thread, below. Your choice will need to be something that can actually be applied to a scrapping project/page (i.e. a few of the tips/tricks related to backing up data, or photos, etc... and those obviously can't be directly "used" on a page/project, so please choose one of the tips/tricks that we can "see" on your page once you post it).
Please list what SCRAPPING HACK you've used... and leave your image in the thread, below. THANK YOU!
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SCRAPPING HACKS DISCUSSED IN THE WEEK #2 BONFIRE GATHERING...
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- Use spare bits of time (think: waiting in school car lines, or waiting in doctor's offices for appointments, etc.) and start your pages in the Project Life app (FREE) and then import/export the starts of those pages into PS/PSE/photopea.com/etc.
*BLOG POST TUTORIAL SERIES FOR THIS APPROACH ---
---Part 1: http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...on-your-phone/
---Part 2: http://www.thedigitalpress.co/part-2...on-your-phone/
---Part 3: http://www.thedigitalpress.co/part-3...on-your-phone/
---Part 4: http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...on-your-phone/
*EXAMPLES ON @PROJECTLIFEAPPDUDE'S INSTAGRAM FEED ---https://www.instagram.com/projectlifeappdude/ - You can point and CTRL-click to select an element on your page (instead of searching thru layers palette to select); in some versions of PS/PSE, you can also check a box at the top that allows you to directly click (without holding CTRL (or COMMAND, on apple computers) at the same time).
- Along those same lines... you can also point & multiple-CTRL-click lots of items together at one time... to move a whole grouping of elements/etc. at the same time
- When you have certain sequences of actions that you do over and over, repeatedly (think: the process you go through to save-for-web... or similar) -- you can use Photoshop (PS) to create "actions" that "record" those actions in sequence and then you can simply "play" that action every time you want to do that sequence -- MASSIVE TIME-SAVER!
A FEW TUTORIALS FROM TDP'S BLOG---
--- http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...oshop-actions/
--- http://www.thedigitalpress.co/video-...-in-ps-or-pse/
--- http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...-save-for-web/
--- http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...our-workspace/ - Similar to using scissors when paper scrapping to create shapes/etc... you can use any item/shape in PS/PSE/etc. as a "clipping mask" to make anything (papers, etc.) take on the shape of any other shape -- like digital die-cutting!
- There are programs available (such as one of our staff's favorites -- NexusFont -- (or similar others) to catalog/organize fonts. Many of them (NexusFont, for one) will allow you to create groupings of fonts -- tagging them into categories you create (such as "handwriting fonts" or "BOLD fonts" etc.). This makes it soooo easy to quickly find fonts you want to use, when scrappign!
- You can customize the shadows you use on different items (think: smaller/thinner shadows on paper items... taller/deeper/wider shadows on "taller" items such as flowers or buttons, etc. in order to add realism to your digital projects. There are lots of ways to do this (and even some "styles" and "actions" available for PS/PSE users) -- and some participants in the chat discussed using the "warp" feature in PS... or the "liquify" feature in Affinity (very popular app for scrapping on an iPad, etc.).
- Use an auto-backup service to ensure you never lose your data/photos/scrap stash (Backblaze was recommended for its ease-of-use, given that it's automated and works behind-the-scenes without needing the user to do anything manually... Dropbox is similar, and was also recommended... some of the chat participants use Google Photos... and one person mentioned using Amazon's service that comes free for Prime Members)
- Someone asked how to achieve sharper web-resolution images (for galleries/etc.) -- and it was discussed that people should always make sure they're saving at a quality of around 80% (or "8" or "9" or "10" in some programs) when using the "save for web" function... because sometimes "save for web" can default to a lower level and might save at, say, 40% and the image quality suffers greatly. Someone also discussed adding a sharpness filter once the initial "save for web" function is completed.
THIS TUTORIAL WAS REFERENCED: http://www.thedigitalpress.co/tutori...-save-for-web/ - In TDP's gallery, specifically, a tip was given for accessing the actual/real "900px x 900px" image -- because the one that shows up when you click into any gallery image on the screen is an approximation that is more like 600px in size (but the real image is 900px). HOW? ...click the "VIEW LARGER IMAGE" link that appears just below the main image when you're looking at something in the gallery -- to get the full 900px image link for posting in the forum/etc.
- Someone discussed the idea of setting shadows to a color that's similar to the item that is UNDER the shadow, for realism... instead of using a default black/grey color (for instance, if you're shadowing a flower and it's going to lay on top of a pink paper in the layout... select the color of that paper and then darken it a LOT (so it might become deep/dark purple/pink?) and use that color for the shadow
- Finally, one of the last tips was to create "groups" of items in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (PS/PSE) in order to apply functions to ALL of the items at one time (for instance: re-sizing an entire cluster of embellishments at one time -- first select all items, "create group" of items, and then apply the function to all of those items at one time... etc.
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